shadow
Black: Dark, Earth, Moist, Fertile, Mystery, Void, Ground of Being, Pure Potential, Shadow, Chaos, Madonna
The Black Mother Kali – the Destroyer of Illusion and The Weaver of Polarities
One of the most maligned colors on the spectrum is the color Black, black is the color of the dark as opposed to the light, the color of earth as opposed to sky, the color the night sky as opposed to day light, the color of indigenous people as opposed to white skinned people. Black is the color of fertile moist soil, the color of the dark womb, the color of death and the color of our shadow.
One of the legacies that Patriarchy has given religious world is the legacy of Transcendence. Transcend the Earth, the Body, the Messiness of Life. Very early on we imbibe the teaching to be attached to the light is good and to be on Earth a curse, a punishment for impurity rather than a dimension into which we journey in order to learn and grow and play. We strive to be released from the endless cycle of birth and death. We are not taught the blessing of having a human body, nor the joy of sensory fulfillment. We are taught to reach for the light, to strive, to push to transcend through the dimensions.
Even in the more evolved spiritual circles we reach for the crown and transcend the root chakra. Yet, the jewels of this human incarnation is hidden within the darkness of the body, and higher is not better than lower. The journey of Awakening is not only about reaching for the Light. The embodiment our Awakening is also about exploring the dark, the dark nights, and the fertile dark Earth, with Her hidden Gifts and Her Shadows. She is a Goddess in Her own right….and we live on Her body….within Her Sacred Field – but we have been conditioned out of this intimacy with Her, this Knowing, and so we continue to strive and deny the beauty and the gift of Her body/Our body with its pilgrimage places, its inner palaces and portals into Truth and Beauty.
Another aspect of the color black is the Shadow with its difficulty, chaotic nature and messiness. We have yet to embrace the messiness of life, its difficulties, its struggles and impermanence. We cling, we resist, we fret rather than embrace the polarities with their dark and light sides. Until we reclaim the dark we can never awaken to the Truth, The Love and the Beauty within us. Ascension without Embodiment is but a fantasy we need to awaken from. She – the Holy Mother is Everything, both the dark and the light….and we need to embrace it all in order to have a grounded awakening that is rooted in the Earth. One of my teachers speaks of embracing it all by asking “Can you see Goddess now? In this disease? In this chaos? In this difficulty? In this failure? In this struggle? Can you see Her in this?… Can you see Her in that?… Can you embrace it all – and invite it all in even when you don’t understand it all, can you live and embody this Mystery?
Amoda Maa – a contemporary spiritual teacher has this to say about awakening – “after awakening you continue to feel the waves of your human story, you are immune to neither the raging storm nor the scorching sun. You continue to feel the horror of the world, the unbearability of humanity’s suffering and humanity’s infliction of suffering onto other life-forms. You continue to experience failure, brokenness, vulnerability, and confusion. YOU – continue to be human”…..Awakening is not for the you – you think you are, my friend. It is for love. Because it is love that has been forgotten for so long. Because it is love that moves everything even when you have turned away from it. And because it is love that is attempting to evolve through us. Awakening is simply love recognizing love….so that love becomes the driving force of humanity, always. “
The Black Madonna – holds it all in Her Heart
“Forget me not!
For I am the First and the Last
I am the Honored One and the Scorned One.
I am the Whore and the Holy one
I am the Wife and the Virgin
I am the Mother and the Daughter
I am the Incomprehensible Silence –
I am the voice whose Sound is Manifold,
I am the Blessing of my Name.
I am Wisdom and Ignorance.
I am without Shame and filled with it.
I am Power, I am Fear.
I am Peace and War.
I am the Void in Fullness.
I am Oneness in Emptiness,
I dissolve all Concepts,
I Dissolve all Images.
Thus I am Limitless,
Thus I am All.
Forget me not,
Because I am the Outcast and the Long Expected one….”
(excerpt from the O Manuscript)
As life on Earth becomes more challenging with the immense global challenges that we all face – we are invited into an opportunity for Embodied Awakening, this is the greatest act of service, the most heartfelt response to the crisis we face. It is my prayer on this Holy Navarathri (nine nights of the Mother dedicated to Power, Grace and Wisdom) that we have the courage to be the Weavers of a New Earth.
“Be the Rose that blooms in the Heart of Darkness”
The Teachings of the Scarlet Sutra is dedicated to the Red Goddess Lalita, Mary Magdalene, the Yoginis and The Red Priestesses from all Traditions throughout the Ages
Prem Moodaley Copyright 2017
Navarathri September 2017
Resources:
The “O” Manuscript ” by Lars Muhl – available at Amazon
Amoda Maa “Embodied Enlightenment”- available at Amazon
Descent: Going down, Under, Darkness, Tomb, Shadow, Alchemy , Death, Transmutation
Rebirth
Many, many times in our Journey towards Sovereignty we encounter what is known as a “Dark Night” or “Descent into the Underworld”. In the life of those that truly seek Freedom – this is a necessary Initiation into the Pure Love of the Primal Mother within.
Many myths portray this journey – particularly the myth of Innana – She who journeys into the Underworld at the behest of her sister Erishkegal – Innana passes through seven gates in the Underworld – and at each of the seven gates she has to hand over a piece of jewellery or clothes until she is stripped of her power. She is naked and vulnerable.
“Innana – Queen of Heaven and Earth”
A journey such as this is indeed an enormous crisis, a shattering of the old and a waiting for the new to arise as a rebirth into the world of form. With every crisis we have an opportunity for new life – we can either use this as a portal into a new way of being or we can choose to re imprint old outdated patterns. The choice is ours and requires the maturity of warrior to use this test and initiation as an opportunity for alchemy.
Marion Woodman in her book Dancing in the Flames writes: “Not until we recognize the Divine Immanence, the light of Goddess in matter, can we hope to establish a balance, a reconnection with our own deepest nature that can root us in a world of meaning and imagination. Perhaps we will have to face the darkness, walk out on the moor alone at nightfall, or dive to the bottom of the sea before the old ossified ego boundaries can be shattered to make room for the dance.”
“Making room for the Dance”
As we let go of the ossified patterns in the mind, we become empty and still. No longer bound to our inherited and self imposed limitations, clinging and attachments, we are as vulnerable and naked as a new born babe. We face uncertainty and the unknown trusting that we will be held and led as indeed we are. The Divine Feminine waits for this precise opportunity to enter into the crack of our shattered egos. We are protected by Her Love and Her Grace as we are remade by Her fierce Fire in the Darkness of Her Womb.
No-thing is certain anymore. We wait on the razors edge…we wait for Grace. We come to a deep acceptance of life’s polarities. We offer resistance no more. We realize there are no guarantees. No safe place where we can hide. We learn to live on the edge of Her Sword and lick honey from its razor edge.
“Licking Honey from the Razors Edge”
“What if you spent your whole life searching for love and all you found was emptiness
What if you spent all your days afraid of being abandoned and you ended up alone
You would have to make peace
You would have to walk barefoot to the ocean
and bow to all the Gods who have no names
and accept that all Great Mysteries swallow you whole
and Truth takes no prisoners
It just slices you open on Her Blade
But if you not afraid of
Emptiness…of
Loneliness
If you can accept that you were born naked and
not even the strongest bond of Love can protect you
from Death
Then you can begin to Love your precious Life
and Lick Honey from the Razor’s edge”
The Teachings of the Scarlet Sutra is dedicated to the Red Goddess Lalita, Sophia, Mary Magdalene, The Yoginis and the Red Priestesses from all traditions throughout the Ages
Resources:
Marion Woodman: “Dancing in the Flames” – Shambhala Boston -1997
Poem by Psalm Isadora – barefootdiary.blogspot.com
Copyright Prem Moodaley 2017
February 2017